It's a night for the new guys in Dodgers' 7-3 defeat of Rockies - Los Angeles Times
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It’s a night for the new guys in Dodgers’ 7-3 defeat of Rockies

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Ned Colletti was operating under a tight offseason budget. The franchise in utter turmoil, his payroll was severely restricted.

The ensuing additions, by his repeated admission, were not individually sexy. No big names, no fat contracts, no headline-stealing signings. Just valuable pieces, he kept saying.

A pair of those under-the-radar signings combined to make the offseason appear plenty productive for one night, leading the Dodgers to a 7-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Friday before an announced crowd of 35,591 at Dodger Stadium.

New left-hander Chris Capuano went seven strong innings, holding the Rockies to a Michael Cuddyer solo home run, to boost his record to 5-0. That matches the best start of his eight-year career set in 2007, when he never won another game.

The offense was led by new second baseman Mark Ellis, who had been superb defensively and a solid No. 2 hitter, but otherwise had not been particularly spectacular offensively. Friday he hit his first home run of the season and then doubled in two more.

His three RBIs almost matched his season total (four) entering the night. But Ellis hit a solo home run off 49-year-old Jamie Moyer (1-3) in the first inning. He doubled off Moyer in the fifth to give the Dodgers a 4-0 led.

Ellis came into score after the double on an Andre Ethier single, and is second on the Dodgers in runs scored with 23. On the season he’s batting .280. He leads all major-league second base defensively, having yet to commit an error in 30 games.

Ellis, 34, was signed for two years at $8.75 million.

Capuano gave up only four hits in his seven innings, not walking a batter, striking out three and lowering his earned-run average to 2.06.

Capuano, 33, signed for two years and $10 million.

The Dodgers managed 11 hits against three Colorado pitchers, and Ellis wasn’t the only one to pick up his first home run of the season.

Juan Uribe finally hit his first in the eighth inning off Esmil Rogers. Uribe, of course, is at least supposed to approximate a power hitter.

Ethier capped three-for-four night with a solo shot in the seventh inning. It was his seventh on the season and left him with a National League-best 32 RBIs.

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It’s a night for the new guys in Dodgers’ 7-3 defeat of Rockies

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